Category Archives: shopping

If Canadian shopping trends follow US trends, here are some eye-popping shopping live stats in the US on Thanksgiving Day today as of the writing of this article, updated at 7 p.m. ET

Thanksgiving is currently on track to be one of the fastest growing retail days in online shopping history. Based on Adobe Analytics data, $1.75 billion was spent online as of 5 p.m. ET on Thanksgiving Day, representing 28.6% growth YoY. Based on today’s strong growth rate, Adobe Analytics expects Thanksgiving Day to reach a record $3.7 billion in online retail sales, up 29% from 2017. It’s expected $38.0 billion will have been spent online between 11/1 and 11/22,

Smartphones are driving a record 54.4% of all traffic to retail sites so far on Thanksgiving Day (vs just 46.1% on Thanksgiving Day 2017).

IFA Berlin 2018 had much to show from unusual gadgets to the first store-ready 8K TV’s. Started in 1924 IFA, is Europe’s leading trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances from around the world. This week, it reported record attendance and exhibitors on its closing day in Berlin – 245,000 visitors including 150,000 trade visitors attended the show; more than 50 per cent of the trade visitors came from abroad a new all-time high in international attendance. CES Las Vegas take note! Timed for the all-important end-of-year business ahead of Black Friday, Singles Day in China, and Christmas, the event hints to a positive mood for the consumer electronics industry. IFA reported high order volumes for deals struck during the convention, totaling 4.7 billion euros, a new high.

Here are some of the highlights of what was exhibited at IFA Berlin 2018 ranging from quirky to clever. And those 8K TVs with no content to show other than high quality photos from serious digital cameras? Well, you got to stand in front of one!

Somnox Smart Pillow relaxes by breathing along

The Somnox smart pillow, takes a life of its own, in and out while you hug it, giving you a better night’s sleep. Does it play music, sync phone alarms or notifications?

It’s back! Prime Day (www.amazon.ca/primeday) returns July 16 at 12 p.m. PT/3 p.m. ET until July 17. In case you didn’t notice, that’s 36 hours long! A day and a half of non-stop deals on Amazon Canada.

Amazon’s Alexa joins Canada Day celebrations and her very own first year anniversary in Canada with Anthem singing, party ideas, Canadian jokes and tongue twisters and more. If you have an Alexa speaker you are all set. If not, check out Amazon’s Alexa smart speakers: Alexa Echo $99.99, Alexa Dot $39.99 and the newest Alexa Spot with screen and cameras, available at www.amazon.ca. Alexa tries Canadian accents, but she can’t pronounce Regina quite right, eh! Still, this new catalogue of voice command utterances are available now to make Canada Day special.

What’s the big deal? Costing several hundred bucks less than the top tier competitors, the XZ2 has unique features like gently curved Gorilla Glass 5 body shell with aluminum rim, fitting nicely in your palm. Despite the rear curvature, the XZ2 still stays flat when you lay it down to use its sensitive touchscreen on your desk.

Amazon announced it is creating 3,000 high tech jobs in Vancouver, taking over the redevelopment project of the old downtown Canada Post building. The 416,000 square foot development project has now changed from a mixed-use retail, office, and residential to mixed commercial-only retail and office space. This makes the Amazon’s full time working force in Vancouver 5,000 strong totaling more than 6,000 in Canada. Alternate location arrangements are being made until the new project is completed in 2022.

That’s $17,422 CDN folks. From screen and TV maker SHARP, after a seemingly long hiatus from store show floors the Japanese electronics company is blowing the dust off its unique IGZO fine screen technology for next Father of all TV’s.

The 8K screen was shown this weekend in Rome, hosted by Berlin based global Tech Show organizer IFA at their annual three-day Global Press Conference for more than 360 journalists flown in from around the world.

That’s $17,422 CDN folks. From screen and TV maker SHARP, after a seemingly long hiatus from store show floors the Japanese electronics company is blowing the dust off its unique IGZO fine screen technology for next Father of all TV’s.

The 8K screen was shown this weekend in Rome, hosted by Berlin based global Tech Show organizer IFA at their annual three-day Global Press Conference for more than 360 journalists flown in from around the world.

For us North Americans, most sources for our shopping trends are from…North America!

But here’s your chance to follow technology trend opinions from a respected source in Europe. Feast on the Berlin-based first IFA Tech Trends report for 2018. It’s based on real-time point-of-sales data from partner GfK, a global leader in market and consumer information.

Here is their report. What’s in for you? A better understanding what smart buyers from around the world, radiating from Europe, are looking to buy, or not, in technology. In fact, they are smarter buyers than us because they consider pricey items as an investment not the latest fad.